Solo
- Macs
- One
- Path
- Phone → ButtonHub → QLab and Companion
- Use it
- Most shows, where a second Mac is not warranted.
One Mac does everything. Nothing is paired and nothing is mirrored. If you are not running a standby, this is the mode you want.
QLab and Companion control on your phone.
ButtonHub is a macOS app. It gives your crew PIN-protected control pages they open in a phone browser, and keeps a second Mac in step and ready to take the show.
Runs beside QLab and Companion on the show Mac. Nothing to install on the phones, no accounts, and the venue network is enough.
£40 launch price · covers two Macs · macOS 10.15 or later
Early access
ButtonHub is already running live productions and is still under active development. Expect regular updates.
What it does
The jobs it takes on
Each one is a thing you would otherwise solve with a spare fader, a borrowed laptop or somebody standing next to the desk.
Control QLab from a phone
Put the QLab controls you choose into a browser page. GO, stop, a named cue, a specific workspace.
ButtonHub talks to QLab over OSC, on the same Mac or across the network.
Give each person only their controls
Sound, comms, stage management and a runner each get their own page with their own PIN and nothing else on it to press by mistake.
Each page is a separate link. Retire one and that phone is out, without touching the others.
Keep a second Mac ready
Run a main and a standby. The standby stays in step and can take the show when a person promotes it.
It fires nothing at all until promoted — enforced inside ButtonHub’s QLab layer, not just hidden in the interface.
Put Companion buttons on a phone
Expose the Companion buttons you choose without exposing Companion itself.
ButtonHub presses a position — page, row and column — never a name. Companion itself is never reachable from the phones.
Keep a Stream Deck working when a Mac dies
A deck on USB dies with its machine. Put it on the network and whichever Mac is driving holds it, so it moves with the show rather than with the computer.
Three ways to get it there: an Elgato network dock, a Stream Deck Studio, or a Raspberry Pi running Satellite. Companion’s own button images are painted onto the deck, and the grid is read from the deck itself.
Give the MD a cue display
A readable page for the musical director: the cue running now, the one coming next, and the list around it.
Tracks the playhead and the selection, about a third of a second behind QLab. Selecting a cue does not fire it.
Talkback without another app
A show chat between the people running it, with preset calls and full-screen colour alerts for the ones nobody can miss.
Runs on phones and on the operators’ own screens. One link, as many named voices as the show needs.
Work when there is no shared network
On the venue network ButtonHub needs nothing else. Where there is no network to put everyone on, the same pages arrive over our relay instead.
That is the one part that costs extra. Everything above works on the local network for the price of the app.
How it works
Five steps, start to show
ButtonHub sits beside the software you already run. It does not replace QLab or Companion and it is not in the audio path.
- Install it on the show Mac
An ordinary macOS application, alongside QLab and Companion. macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
- Point it at your show
QLab over OSC. Either can be on this Mac or on another machine you name by address.
- Build the pages and hand out the links
Choose who gets which buttons. Each person gets a link and a PIN, printed as a QR sheet if you want one.
- Run the show
A phone press reaches ButtonHub, which sends it to QLab or Companion. Saved to a home screen, the page opens full screen with no browser bar.
- If the main Mac fails
Promote the standby. The crew’s phones find it on their own in about five seconds, carrying their unlock. Nobody touches a phone.
When it breaks
What actually happens when something dies
A failure here is not an error on a screen. It is a cue missed in front of an audience. So this is what each failure does, and what it deliberately does not do.
- The main Mac dies
- Crew phones notice and walk to the standby on their own, carrying their unlock. Measured at 4.5 seconds on the venue network and 5.2 over the internet. Both kinds of death are handled: a machine that refuses connections, and one that simply stops answering.
- QLab stops answering
- The standby counts the main as not working, not merely quiet. If you are running Companion without QLab, the check follows Companion instead.
- Companion stops answering
- Same again. A main whose Companion has died no longer reads as healthy, so the standby is not left waiting while every button quietly fails.
- The network drops
- Presses never queue. A press that cannot land dies after five seconds and says so on the phone, and ButtonHub refuses any press that arrives more than eight seconds after it was tapped — so a minute of taps cannot fire in a burst when the network returns.
- What the standby will not do
- It will not promote itself by default. From the other side of the room a dead Mac and a dead network look identical, and a machine that guesses wrong there is worse than one that waits. Automatic takeover exists, is off until you arm it, and refuses to run on a machine that has lost its own network.
- What you still have to do
- Copy the QLab show file yourself. ButtonHub syncs its own settings between the two Macs, not your show. It tells you when the two files have drifted — naming the cue list and how many cues differ — but it will not move the file for you.
Rig modes
Pick the one that matches your rig
The mode decides what this Mac does and what follows what. You choose it once, from the same five pictures the app shows you.
Show sync
- Macs
- Two, paired
- Path
- Main ↔ standby, both driving their own QLab
- Use it
- When you want a second Mac ready to take the show.
Playheads, presses and settings follow the main. The standby writes nothing to QLab until a person promotes it, so a cue can never fire twice.
Show sync + Companion
- Macs
- Two, paired
- Path
- As show sync, plus the other Mac’s Companion
- Use it
- When Companion presses must reach both machines.
Everything show sync does, and a press aimed at Companion fires on the standby’s Companion too. Both Companions must carry the same layout.
Conductor
- Macs
- One, unpaired
- Path
- This Mac → QLab and Companion on other machines
- Use it
- When the software you are driving runs elsewhere.
No pairing and no standby. ButtonHub fires straight into QLab and Companion on machines you name by address.
Listener
- Macs
- Any, unlicensed
- Path
- Receives only — fires nothing
- Use it
- On any other Mac in the building.
Shows MD messages and joins the talkback chat. It sends no cues and needs no licence, so you can put one on every machine in the room.
Free
Listener mode costs nothing
An unlicensed copy is not a nag screen. It is a listener: it shows the MD’s messages, sees the flashes and joins the talkback chat, and fires nothing at all.
Who it is for
Anyone who needs to be on the show’s comms but never presses a cue. An RF tech watching racks, a sound number two, anyone parked away from the desk who just wants to talk to the room.
What it costs
Nothing, and it needs no licence. There is no reason not to put one on every Mac in the building.
Price
One purchase, two Macs
Everything on this page works on the venue network for the price of the app. Remote access is the only extra, and only if you need it.
ButtonHub
£40
Launch price · one-off purchase, plus VAT
- The price goes up after early access. Buy now and yours does not
- Two Mac activations — a main and a standby cost the same as one
- Every feature above, on the venue network
- Release a Mac’s activation from the app and another machine takes it
- No subscription for local or venue-network use
- Remote access is separate, and optional
Tax added at checkout at your local rate
Refunds through Polar. Consumers keep their statutory cancellation rights
Remote access
Optional · prices plus VAT
Lets the same crew pages be reached when a phone is not on the venue network: a runner on mobile data, or a show with no shared network at all. Everything else works without it.
- Covers both Macs of a redundant pair — a paired rig never pays twice
- The 90-day pass is one payment and does not renew. It ends by itself
- Three days free to try it, counted by the relay itself
- £501 year£4.17 a month
- £1590 days£5 a month
- £101 monthrolling
Tax added at checkout at your local rate
FAQ
Before you buy
Do I need both QLab and Companion?
No. Either on its own is fine. ButtonHub drives whichever you run, and a rig with only Companion is a normal setup — the standby’s health check follows Companion instead of QLab.
Does it need an internet connection?
No. On the venue network nothing leaves the building. Remote access is the only part that uses the internet, and it is optional.
What does it work with?
QLab 5, and Bitfocus Companion 4.2 or 5.0. macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Anything Companion can press, ButtonHub can hand to a phone.
Do I need two licences for a main and a standby?
No. One purchase, at the £40 launch price, activates two Macs. Remote access covers both machines of a redundant pair as well, so a paired rig never pays twice.
Can the crew break something?
A page carries only the buttons you put on it, and the PIN is checked on the server for every request, not just at the login screen. Nobody sees QLab, Companion or the show file.
Is there anything free?
Yes. An unlicensed copy runs as a listener, free and with no licence at all — what listener mode does.
Does it work on an iPad?
Yes. The crew pages are web pages, so anything with a browser opens them. Saved to the home screen they run full screen, with no browser bar.
What happens if I stop paying for remote access?
Remote access stops at the end of the period you paid for. Everything else carries on working on the venue network, and the app itself does not expire.